Business
Stop Borrowing, Reform Oil Sector, NESG Tells FG
The Nigerian Economic Summit Group has warned the Federal Government to stop borrowing, describing the nation’s rising debts as unsustainable.
The nation’s total public debt, which stood at N12.12tn as of June 2015, rose to N26.22tn in September 2019, according to the Debt Management Office.
The Senate approved $22.79bn loan request of President, Muhammadu Buhari, on March 5, 2020 while the House of Representatives last Wednesday suspended the consideration of the request indefinitely.
The NESG, in its 25th Nigerian Economic Summit Report, described debt sustainability as vital “because the unsustainable circle of rising debts and declining revenue will have consequences on the country’s macroeconomic stability and crowd out private investments.”
It said this could result in a much higher domestic interest rate as well as limited inflow of foreign investments arising from poor sovereign ratings of the country.
“Therefore, the government should stop borrowing, and must speed up reforms in the oil and gas sector to generate revenue over the next 10 years, considering the global move towards clean energy,” the group said.
It said the reform should include the privatisation of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the liberalisation of the downstream petroleum sector.
The NESG said, “The role of prices in resource allocation is fundamental in influencing growth of key industries because price control, whether in the form of subsidies and rationing, creates several distortions in the economy; so, all general subsidies must be removed, and targeted subsidies introduced for the poor.
“Such general subsidies include fuel, power, foreign exchange and fertiliser. However, the removal of fuel subsidy should be timed and sequenced, to avoid it coinciding with a period of shortage of products.”
According to the report, the Taxes and Levies (Approved List for Collection) Act should be amended to ensure that each level of government cannot impose and collect more than five taxes.
It said, “Nigeria’s growth industries require a measure of macroeconomic stability to remain regionally and globally competitive. A stable macroeconomic environment is necessary for sustainable economic development.
“For Nigeria, emphasis must be placed on achieving consistent high GDP growth rates as well as attaining quality growth, which must encompass major sectors of the economy.”
Cornerstone of Financial Services
A survey of more than 1 000 global finance leaders undertaken by digital payment network Ripple shows that 72% of respondents believe they need to offer a digital asset solution to remain competitive.
According to Ripple, leaders from the banking, fintech, corporate and asset management sector have made it clear that the “digital asset revolution is happening now”.
“Digital assets are quickly becoming a cornerstone of financial services, underpinned by progressive regulation, growing interest from Tier-1 banks, a steady consumer shift from banks to fintech providers, and booming stablecoin adoption,” Ripple says.
The survey was conducted in early 2026 and the findings released in March.
Stablecoin Boon or Bane?
Ripple has experienced significant success in the stablecoin sector since launching its Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin in 2024.
With a market cap of $1.56 billion, it is considered a major regulated player in the market.
No doubt the platform was pleased to learn through its own survey that financial leaders were most bullish about stablecoins.
Roughly three-quarters of respondents believed they could boost cash-flow efficiency and unlock trapped working capital.
Ripple noted that finance leaders were thinking about stablecoins as more than “just a new way to execute payments”; instead, they viewed them as effective tools for treasury management.
In March 2026, Ripple began testing a new trade finance model built around RLUSD in a bid to increase the speed of cross-border payments.
The pilot initiative, developed alongside supply chain finance company Unloq [https://unloq.com], is running on the XRP Ledger inside a testing framework developed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The Asian city-state is one of the platform’s biggest growth markets.
The idea behind the project is to see whether stablecoin-based settlement can streamline trade finance, too often hampered by reliance on intermediaries and slow reconciliation.
The only potential drawback is that if the initiative takes off, the Ripple to USD price could be negatively affected.
Ripple has always championed its native XRP token as a bridge asset, the “middleman” in the process of a financial institution turning dollars in the US into pounds in the UK, for example.
Ripple converts dollars into XRP and then back into pounds.
If RLUSD can do exactly the same thing, questions will be asked about XRP’s relevance.
That is a bridge Ripple will have to cross if it gets to that point.
Tokenisation Partners
Another interesting finding from Ripple’s survey is that most banks and asset managers are seeking tokenisation partners to help execute their strategies.
Some 89% of respondents said digital asset storage and custody were top priority. “Token servicing/lifecycle management also ranks highly for banks at 82%, while asset managers place greater emphasis on primary distribution at 80%,” Ripple found.
The survey also revealed that just more than half of fintechs and financial institutions want an infrastructure provider that can offer a “one-stop-shop solution”. This rose to 71% among corporate financial leaders.
Ripple attributes this to institutions and firms wanting uncomplicated, cohesive systems.
Infrastructure Rules
In its final analysis, Ripple says companies across the board are looking for partners and solutions that are “secure, compliant, battle-tested and that enable growth and execution”.
“The message is clear: infrastructure decisions made today will shape competitive positioning tomorrow.”
No surprise that this is precisely where Ripple is placing much of its focus.